Falling Deeply
by Ellen92
Summary: Destiny must have brought Edward to the right place, at the right moment. Not only does he get a chance to change the life of that one person, but his own life as well. ExB. One shot.


_Just a little idea I had and I couldn't stop myself from writing it down, so here you go._

_Oh, and a very, very special thanks to my beta for this story too . cute . 24  
>She did an amazing job. Any mistakes left are mine :)<em>

_Enjoy._

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><p><strong>~ Falling Deeply ~<br>**

I suppressed a yawn as I made my way towards the second floor of the hospital. It was three o'clock in the afternoon and I was working my shift at the Seattle Children's Hospital.

Well, actually, this is already my third shift of the day.

Yes, I am a workaholic, but who wouldn't be when surrounded by sick children who desperately need their help?

Exactly.

I would never succeed in staying at home for an hour, watching TV or reading a book, without going crazy over all the stuff I could do at the hospital. Instead, I always ended up working extra hours, but I didn't mind... Not even a little bit.

Even though this obsession has led me to me having no friends except for my dearest colleagues, with whom I only spend time with during lunch or on and coffee breaks, a broken relationship with my family,that I only visit when they beg me to come, and a wife who I'm halfway through a divorce with, I can't find myself to regret these decisions I've made.

If you could see the look on the parents' faces when you tell them you succeeded in saving their child's life, you'd be willing to give up your own sad life in order to give them a happy life, too. Some people would say it's sad, but I'm okay with it. My life had been destroyed the minute I finished high school.

Throwing a glance at the clipboard in my hand, I opened the door of the elevator and made my way towards my next little patient.

"Cullen, you've been here twenty three hours, go home already, get some rest," Eric snapped at me as he passed me down the hallway. Eric Yorkie was one of those dear colleagues I've just mentioned. He always kept an eye out to make sure I went home once in a while. If it wasn't for him, I'd probably never get any sleep.

"I'm just going to finish this round and then I'm off," I said, offering him a small smile, already making my way into the next room.

"No, I'm going to finish up for you," he said, and the hard look on his face told me that I wasn't going to get away with it.

"Edward, as a doctor you should know you need to get more sleep," he warned me for the umpteenth time, "I know you're really ambitious, and that's good, but you're risking your own health."

I just shrugged my shoulders. I had heard this speech a thousand times already but the message never got through to me. My life was worth nothing compared these little lives I tried to safe every minute of the day.

"Go," Eric said when I still didn't make a move to leave. Agitated I handed him the clipboard with the patient's information and headed back to the staff's dressing rooms to change.

I wasn't tired, at all. I know I should have been after twenty three hours of work, but I found myself getting energy from my interaction with these children.

I saluted the lady at the desk on my way out and was pleasantly surprised when I saw the rays of sunshine beaming through the entrance doors.

A lovely day in Seattle. Well, well, well... that's a new one.

When I stepped outside and was greeted by the nice warmth of the sun, I decided to enjoy the rare weather, and took a detour on my way home.

I lived about five minutes away from the hospital, in a decent apartment. I didn't need all the luxuries the place offered me, simply because I was never home unless I was catching on some sleep, but my mom insisted that I stayed there. I could easily afford the apartment so I didn't argue with her.

Instead of taking a direct route home, I walked towards the little park that was close to the hospital. I figured I needed fresh air just as much as I needed sleep.

The park was filled with people who were enjoying the weather like myself. There were elderly people sitting on benches, probably talking about how good life used to be before they invented computers and all of the other electronic shit, couples were having a picnic on the grass and children were playing football. I must admit that I was a bit jealous of a couple walking past me with their little boy, giggling as they lifted him in the air and swung him between them.

I had always pictured myself being a husband and a loving father by the time I was thirty, but here I was, twenty nine and single again, with no prospect of change.

Things had looked pretty good for a while. I was married for four years to a lovely girl, but even though she was amazing, I never actually loved her. At least not the way I knew I _could_ love someone.

They always say you never forget your first love, and I tend to agree with that. I never had and I probably never will.

I guess Tanya finally realized after all those years that I couldn't make her happy, so she left. I didn't stop her, either, mostly because she deserved to be set free. I was a shitty husband with my job as my main concern so she had every right to leave me to my misery.

When my wife left me, she took my entire future with her. All the plans and wishes I had were taken away the moment she closed the door behind her.

Then again, I wasn't complaining. I might not be a real dad, but I had a bunch of children to take care of back at the hospital and that was the only thing that kept me going.

I strolled around the block, ready to head back home and get some rest, when I came across a large group of people staring up at the top of the building in front of them. Never a good sign.

My eyes immediately followed their gaze and were met by a figure standing on the ledge of the building.

"Fuck," I muttered as I made my way through the crowd towards the entrance. I didn't know why I did it, but it was as if my instincts told me to get up there and stop that person from making a horrible decision. Maybe it was because I'm a doctor, but it didn't feel like it. Then again, maybe it was just the fact that everyone else was just staring up in the air, but not doing anything. Assholes.

"Sir, you're not allowed passed these signs if you're not an employee," the lady at the desk shouted at me when I passed the information point.

"Sue me," I yelled back still making my way towards the elevator. I kept pushing the button for the lift to come down, but eventually I lost my patience and just took the stairs.

My heart beat quickly in my chest as I took the steps three at a time. The speed at which I climbed those stairs, could decide on life or death, and I swear I'd be devastated if I ended up being too late. But damn those fucking high buildings! Who invented apartments in the first place?

I didn't know how many flights of stairs I had ahead of me, and I had lost count of how many I had already climbed but I was running out of breath, so I hoped that I was almost at the top.

When I finally arrived at the door that lead to the roof, I pushed it open as quickly as possible and scanned the roof for whoever was going to make a choice I wouldn't let them make.

I was still trying to catch my breath, when I noticed a woman standing only sixteen feet away from me on the little wall that was supposed keep people from falling. Her mahogany hair was flowing around her head as the wind was blowing through it and it caused my heart to stop beating instantly.

This was not possible... I mean, it couldn't be her... No, Edward, there are probably millions of other people with the same brown locks.

I carefully approached the woman who continued to look a little bit too familiar. Every step I took that led me closer, confirmed to me that it really was her. Her small frame, her perfect curves...

"Please don't," I whispered loud enough so she could actually hear me as I came to a stop about three feet away from her. I had to physically refrain myself from snaking my arm around her waist and pulling her down, because I quickly decided that that wouldn't be the best way to deal with this situation. What if she ended up struggling against my grip and fell anyway? God, I couldn't even think about it.

"Go away." Her desperate but still sweet voice confirmed my suspicion about who she was. The woman up there was one Isabella Swan. The girl who had made my entire high school life a living hell because she never noticed me. Not that I had ever made an attempt to be noticed, because that would have probably equalled my death sentence, but still.

Isabella - or as she preferred to be called – Bella, was the most popular girl in school and for apparent reasons. She was drop dead gorgeous, and the object of affection for every boy in high school. One look in those deep brown eyes and you were at her mercy.

I had been no exception to that, but I knew that making a move would only result in a total embarrassment, especially for a guy like me.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't a loner or a nerd. I was just a normal teenage boy with a few loyal friends, but that still meant Bella was way out of my league. I had resigned myself to that but I still couldn't keep myself from stealing glances at her every time she passed me in the hallway, or when I saw her in the cafeteria.

And even though she was popular she didn't have the attitude most people in her situation would have. She was friendly and kind-hearted, as opposed to her friends, Jessica and Lauren, who were total bitches. And I'm being nice with that description.

Most of the time I tried to learn about her without actually talking to her. I wanted to know why a beautiful, sweet girl like her, had ended up in such a bad clique of people. They all adored her, which was probably the reason why she kept hanging out with them.

She had had the perfect life. A life every teenage girl could only dream of. She had a ton of friends and was dating the captain of the football team. Cliché, I know. But that's how it was.

And now, eleven years later, she was on the ledge of an eight story building about to jump off. I know that her looks shouldn't matter right now, but I couldn't help but take a look at the woman in front of me. After all those years, she was still as beautiful as she was then, and took my breath away.

I didn't need another second to realize that she still had the same effect on me, even if I hadn't seen her since the day I had left high school. After graduation, I left that place completely heartbroken, because there was no indication whatsoever that I would ever see her again. I wanted to become a doctor, and she would go to college somewhere else to study English literature. I knew then that our paths would most likely never cross again. And they hadn't.

Until today.

If I thought I was over her, I was completely wrong.

Eleven years had done nothing to change the way I felt about her. I had just shoved them to the back of my mind and lived a numb life.

And now, for the first time since then I felt alive again. I decided in that moment I wasn't going to give up on that feeling.

I needed to talk her out of this stupid idea of hers, whatever the reason was because seeing her up there made me realize that if she went through with it, she would destroy my life all over again and I was pretty sure I couldn't handle that a second time.

"I'm not leaving without you," I said, determined as I stepped closer to her.

"You're supposed to say that kind of stuff, but it's not going to work with me." Her voice sounded strong as if she had no doubts about this, but I know she did. If she was one hundred percent sure, she would have jumped already, even before I had arrived at the scene.

"Bella, this is insane."

"How do you know my name?" she asked, never turning around to look at me but I could hear a hint of panic in her voice. Fuck, saying her name probably wasn't one of my best moves, but it wasn't like I had done it on purpose, it had just slipped out...

"Because I know you," I admitted, knowing there was no way to back down now. I might as well get on with it. She didn't respond to that.

I carefully lifted myself on the little wall while I tried very hard not to look down. I knew that if I saw how high we really were, I'd probably puke my guts out.

"What are you doing?" her voice shrieked when she noticed my attempt to get on the wall with her. She shot me a quick glance and I could see her body tense even though she tried very hard not to show me.

When I had finally succeeded in getting straight up, I heard the gasps from downstairs. I guess to them, it looked like I was suicidal as well. I tried to ignore all of their sounds and shouts, because Bella was my main concern now. If getting up here as well would result in being able to leave this place with her, I would do it.

In the distance, I could hear a siren, which meant that someone had already called the police. Thank god they were at least doing something down there instead of just gawking at us.

"Please get back down, Edward." Her comment almost made my foot slip of the little wall. _She knows my name?_ I quickly looked down at my shirt to see if there was a possibility that I had left my name tag attached there, but no. How _the hell is it possible that she remembers me?_ I was a nobody, mainstream, nothing special. At any other time, I would have probably thrown a party because of this discovery, but it wasn't quite the right time for that, so I ended up looking at her with a confused face on my face.

"Yes, I know who you are as well," she added softly when she noticed my expression. Her eyes, on the other hand, were still fixated on a point in front of her. She wasn't watching anything particular, I guess, she was just lost in her own thoughts. She mumbled a few more sentences, but I couldn't make out what she was saying. She ended her little ramble with, "And I know you don't want this."

"And neither do you," I replied firmly.

For the first time since I'd been up there, she looked at me for longer than a second and her deep, chocolate brown eyes instantly made my knees buckle again, which was pretty dangerous considering I was on the edge of an eight story building.

"If you really wanted to jump, you would have already done it," I added confidently.

With a huff, she diverted her eyes back to the horizon of buildings.

"And I already told you, I'm not leaving without you."

"Don't be stupid."

"Look who's talking," I snorted.

"If you were living my life, you would understand." Her voice was full of pain and it broke my heart. I wanted to take away her pain - all of it. I wanted to make her smile again, make her laugh, make her happy.

"Then make me understand," I said, carefully moving closer to her. I figured that if I could keep her talking, she wouldn't have time to think about jumping.

And maybe I could even change her mind...

"You don't want to know about my fucked-up life, Edward." Again my name, and again a bolt of excitement coursed through my body.

"Yes I do," I replied honestly.

She shot me another weird look and took a deep breath indicating she was going to talk. I kept my eyes on her the entire time, not only because I couldn't look away from her, but also because I just wanted to protect myself from looking down. Yeah, sue me for having a fear of heights.

I was happy to be able to concentrate on her voice in order to forget that I was on top of a fucking tall building, not to mention on the edge of a wall.

"I'm not the same popular girl I used to be in high school," she started, offering me a small but sad smile which caused my heart to jump in my chest. "Things have changed."

"What happened?" I whispered because I couldn't talk any louder.

"I took off for college, without any of my former friends. I thought that was a good thing, that starting over again was exactly what I needed. They would have been a bad influence, and I really wanted to get that degree. But I ended up failing every class..."

"How could _you_ fail English literature?" I asked a little shocked. She might have been popular, but her grades were still perfect, especially in English.

"I had, euhm, a lot of things on my mind." She glanced at me for the slightest second before looking forward again, a pained look on her face.

"Did you miss them?"

"Who? My friends?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"I just missed being part of something,"

"But you didn't really _like_ them, did you?" I know it was a dangerous question, but I had to ask. I had thought about this throughout our entire high school career. I could see that she only stuck with them because she wanted to be a good friend, but she always failed at hiding her disapproval about some of their actions... at least to me. I always felt like I could see right through her, but maybe that was just because I had become obsessed with her. I _wanted_ to get through to her. I wanted to know everything about her. Every little detail. And that obsession had led me to falling in love with her.

I shook off the memories and tried to focus on our conversation again.

"In some wasy I did, in other way I didn't," she confessed, "I was happy to have friends like them, but maybe they weren't my kind of people, if you know what I mean."

I nodded. "I could tell."

"How?" she asked, clearly surprised by my confession.

"I could see the look on your face whenever they asked you to go with them to another party. You always said yes but you never really wanted to go. Am I right?" Why did this suddenly feel like I was interrogating her?

"Yes," she admitted softly, "I was more the kind of girl who preferred to stay at home reading a book, but they never allowed me to skip a night out. That's the hardest thing about being the most popular girl in school." I chuckled at the tone in which she had said those last six words.

"Why didn't you just ditch them?" I wondered. I knew she never really liked those parties but according to what she was saying now she kind of despised them.

"They were all I had." Her voice was muffled, the pain tangible.

"You didn't need them," I said, "They needed you more. You were the leader of the girls; they were nothing without you." Have you seen Mean Girls? Well, Bella was kind of the 'Regina' of the school, only way way nicer, and then Lauren and Jessica where just like Gretchen and Karen. If you saw Bella walking down the hallway, you could be one hundred percent sure the other two wouldn't be far behind.

"Edward, don't you get it? If I left them, I would become a nobody and even though stepping away from them was tempting I really didn't want to become a loner."

"Just because you're not part of them doesn't mean you're a loner, Bella. Or is that what you considered me?" I was a bit agitated by her remark. Maybe I had been wrong about her. Maybe she did have some kind of attitude and considered everyone outside their little group inferior.

"No," she mumbled, "You seemed to have the perfect life."

"How the hell could you know that?" Now she's assuming things she didn't know shit about. My life wasn't perfect at all. I was desperately in love with a girl that was far beyond my reach. Perfect life my ass.

"Oh, so it's okay for you to know stuff about me without being a creep, but the moment I make a comment about your life, it's inappropriate?" she snapped back at me.

"Bella, your life was on full display for the entire school. It's not hard to know things about you."

"Still, you seem to be the only one who noticed that I didn't like the parties," she remarked, narrowing her eyes at me.

Touché. But I guess anyyone who _really_ looked could have easily noticed.

"Is that why you dumped Mike a week before prom?" I suddenly asked, my temper controlled again. "Because you didn't want to go to prom?"

"No, things just weren't working out between us, and I didn't want to spend that evening with him... especially because he had other 'plans' once prom was over."

My breath hitched in my throat at that, although though it wasn't hard to guess, even back then, that prom would be the day that they would take their relationship to the next level. Yeah, Mike was nice enough to brag about it in front of the entire school. Like it wasn't bad enough for me to watch him touch her - the stupid fucker. To say I despised Mike was a complete understatement. He thought he owned the school for no apparent reason. He would walk down the hallway and make everyone move out of his way because he was the leader or something. His complete lack of respect for everyone, including his girlfriend, made me want to kill him with my bare hands. I couldn't believe he didn't appreciate what he had. If I would have had the honour of calling Bella my girlfriend, I would have done everything I could to make her happy.

"So apart from that, you did want to go to prom?" I questioned.

"I was still a girl, Edward, a girl who enjoyed dressing up one in a while, a girl who had been looking forward to prom ever since she was ten and saw the big girls buying dresses in the local shop"

"Then why didn't you go?" I asked, confused. That question had been plaguing my mind for so long.

I had gone to prom with Alice because her boyfriend Jasper couldn't make it that night. He had injured his leg, so dancing wouldn't have been possible. Alice had been devastated that she would be missing out on prom, so I had stepped in. It's not like I had a date, anyway. Well, I hadn't asked anyone, because the only girl I would want to join me was taken. So because I was the only single guy, I had offered to take her, but that was only because I was dying to see Bella in her prom dress.

Could you understand my disappointment when I realized she wasn't there? I didn't understand why she would miss out on the most important event of a teenager's life. Especially because there was no doubt she would be crowned prom queen. And it's not like there weren't any other candidates to accompany her.

"It's not like I wasn't asked. I guess about half of the school asked me after the news of the break-up between Mike and me got out, but I didn't want to go with any of them. I had waited 'til the day before prom, hoping that that one person would ask me, but he didn't." She looked at me and her big brown doe eyes were sad. But apart from that sadness, there was another emotion in her eyes I couldn't quite describe. Disappointment? I don't know what it was, but it confused the hell out of me.

"Why didn't you ask that person yourself?"

"I didn't want to get turned down," she whispered. I had a hard time controlling my laughter. Who on Earth would turn Bella Swan down?

"Yeah, like that would happen," I chuckled.

She flinched at my remark but didn't respond to it.

"But I guess that missing prom isn't the reason why you're up here today?" I asked, willing her to continue talking.

She shook her head, still not saying anything. I wondered if I had said something wrong, when suddenly the doors behind us opened again. Three police officers were standing behind us, yelling at us to stay where we were. Seems like a perfect plan to me.

"Stay there!" Bella shouted, causing the officers to freeze about ten feet away from us. I kind of expected her to add 'or I'll jump' but she didn't, much to my relief.

"We'll stay here if you climb down off that ledge," the little guy on the left said.

"Let me just talk to her," I offered, hoping they wouldn't do anything reckless. I had finally managed to get her to talk to me, and maybe that was all she needed right now.

"You can talk once you're off that wall," the slightly taller man said.

"Just give us a minute!" Bella suddenly yelled back. At that point, the officers must have realized they needed to do as she asked in order to make sure this ended well.

"It's okay, go on," I said, giving her a reassuring look and hoping she'd start talking again. Luckily, she did. Her voice was calmer and more subdued probably because she only wanted to share this with me and not with those three annoying men behind us.

"My dad, he didn't want to continue paying for my education because I was fucking it up. To say he was mad at me for wasting his money would be an understatement. He knew I could do better. Hell, even I knew it, but he wouldn't give me another chance. And now that I think about it, I probably wouldn't have accepted it anyway."

"Why?"

"Because I knew I'd fail again." My heart broke again at the tone of her voice. I desperately wanted to know the reason of her sudden break down, but I didn't know if it was my place to ask her about it. Then again, wasn't I already asking a whole lot of personal questions?

"Anyway, Charlie told me to leave and look for a job. I was so pissed off at that moment, that I wanted to stay just to be rebellious, but I left anyway. I worked as a cashier for the past eleven years and that's been my life. I wasn't happy, and I knew I'd never be, but I managed to live through it."

"Then why are you here now, and not eleven years ago?"

"Today, my boss announced that they had to economize, and without further explanation, he kicked me out. I'm already three months behind with rent, and now I have no job, so I guess I'll be homeless within a week."

I looked at the girl next to me and realized that having everything in high school wasn't exactly the road to success. I still couldn't understand what went wrong between high school and college, though. Something must have happened to her in that short period of time to cause all of this.

Instead of asking another question, I realized that she might need comfort now instead, so I carefully reached for her hand. I sighed in relief when I felt her hand tighten around mine.

For the first time in my entire life I was connected to her, and there was no better feeling in the entire world. I quickly realized that if she jumped, my life would be over as well.

I snorted at the thought of "my life." Could I call whatever I had a 'life'?

In my mind, I went over the last eleven year of my existence, only to see how depressed I had been, and still was. I couldn't remember the last time I had really laughed. You know, a laugh that makes you cry and makes your cheeks hurt.

And it's not like there was any improvement in view.

"I guess if that's enough for you to jump, I should jump with you," I said, realizing that I had nothing to lose. My life was probably as fucked up as hers.

For the first time since I had climbed up here I looked down and my stomach turned at the sight. There was no way I could do this right now, but maybe if I couldn't convince her to stay up here with me, it would be less frightening. I noticed the fire fighters had already opened a big net on the ground below to catch us if we did actually jump. I snorted at the sight of it. I thought they only did that in movies.

Bella must have misinterpreted my reaction, because her eyes had grown wider when she saw me looking down with a grin on my face.

"No!" she exclaimed, squeezing my hand in the process.

"Bella, my life isn't much better than yours." I sighed heavily, "All I do is work. I don't make time for anything else, not even for my family."

"At least you have a job," she mumbled, "And let me guess, you became a doctor?"

How the hell did she know? I just nodded, confused that she knew this about me. It made me wonder how much more she knew.

"You see, you've accomplished your dream. You have a purpose in life. You can help people. You have a degree, money, a home."

"Yeah, but it's a lonely life if you don't know love," I said softly.

"I have neither of the above," she said, her brown eyes sadder than ever, "No one ever really loved me."

"You're wrong," I said without missing a beat. She looked at me, and her expression softened when she noticed my sincerity. My eyes must have told her what I had never been able to say out loud. I loved her. Always had, always would.

We were both silent for a while. I heard one of the officers behind us clear his throat, but I ignored it. Couldn't they just leave? It's not like they were doing anything useful; they were just being annoying.

"Why didn't you ask me?" she suddenly questioned, breaking the silence.

"What?"

"Prom," she softly added. When she turned to face, me I could see a tear streaming down her face.

I guess I must have been staring at her, gaping like a fish, unable to utter a single word. Why would she have wanted _me_ to ask her?

"I wanted you to ask me. I envied you, Edward. I envied you and your friends so much. You could do whatever you wanted without anyone judging you. If you wanted to go to a party, you would, but if you preferred to stay home, you did without any repercussions. No one would care," she continued, wiping a tear off her face every once in awhile. "I wanted you to notice me, just like the other boys in school. I wanted you, Edward."

I couldn't believe what she was saying. I heard the words, but my mind wasn't registering it. Did she just say that she had wanted _me _to ask _her_ to prom? Out of everyone in school, she had wanted me, Edward Cullen - normal teenage boy, oblivious to any other person - to ask her, Bella Swan, likely candidate for the title of prom queen?

"Why didn't you tell me?" I whispered when I had finally found my voice.

"I was scared," she confessed.

"Do you have any idea how badly I wanted to hear those words in high school? Or at least know about this?"

"And what would you have done if you knew, huh? If you knew I'd end up alone, just like I feared." She still didn't realize how I felt for her, did she?

"You wouldn't have been alone, you'd have had me," I said truthfully. Her eyes locked with mine and I could see all kinds of emotions in there. Regret, sadness, relief... but the one that shocked me most: love.

That realization hit me hard. My entire high school career I had spent watching her in complete awe. I knew so much about her that other people didn't, just by being attentive but this important thing had slipped through. How could I have missed out on it?

If I had known about this I wouldn't have hesitated about asking her to prom. Not even for a second. I would have been the first in line to ask her without any doubts.

"I've made so many mistakes, Edward," she sobbed, burying her head in her other free hand.

For a moment I was afraid that her heavy sobbing would cause her to fall over the edge, or that maybe she was just trying to jump again, so I tightened my grip around her hand because there was no way I was going to let her go.

It was only then that I realized how well her hand fit into mine. I looked down at our entwined hands and couldn't help but smile at that sight of it. I could get used to that.

"Maybe now is the time to start over again," I suggested hopefully.

"We can't start over again, Edward. This is life. You only get one chance and I've blown mine."

"To hell with only one chance!" I said more forcefully and forced her to look at me. Her eyes were blood shot because of the tears, but dammit, she still looked so beautiful. I tucked a lost strand of hair behind her ear and smiled as she closed her eyes at my touch.

I took a deep breath and decided that it was now or never. I could make her mine now; something I had failed to do all those years ago.

"Bella, will you go to prom with me?" I asked with a huge grin. Did I just sound nervous? Did I? Oh god, Edward...

Well, it was an important question, wasn't it? If only I had had the guts to ask her eleven years ago.

But 'if' wasn't going to help us now. The only thing that could change something was her answer now.

"Really, Edward? Really?" she asked with a humorous tone in her voice. For the first time since we were up here, I could see a genuine smile on her lips and if I had said she looked beautiful just a second ago, she looked absolutely gorgeous now. That smile would forever make me weak, and I couldn't care less if that made me a pussy. I was at her mercy now and I forever, but I didn't care.

"Just answer the damn question!" I laughed at the way this conversation had turned out.

"How on Earth are you going to take me to prom at the age of twenty nine?" she giggled, like she was a teenager all over again. The sound of it made my heart grow so full, that I thought my chest would burst.

"I'll figure something out," I said, "but is that a yes?"

"Yes," she whispered, and I could see tears forming in her eyes again.

Shit. Did I say something wrong?

"Bella, don't cry, please! What did I do?" I asked, trying to angle my body towards her as much as possible in our situation. Yeah, don't forget we were still on a wall that was only about eight inches tall.

She just shook her head, tears still falling from her eyes, but then a smile formed on her lips again and I breathed a sigh of relief. "I just can't believe this is happening," she whispered.

"Neither can I," I admitted, unable to hide the grin on my face. If someone would have told me this morning that I'd be here with her right now, I would have probably had them locked up within seconds.

"What does this mean now?" she asked softly.

"It means that I'm going to do whatever it takes to make sure you'll never end up here ever again," I said with determination. When I said 'whatever it takes', I meant it. I'd give up my job, if necessary. For the first time in my life, I would allow myself to be happy, because she was all I needed to achieve that.

She turned around so we were both facing each other. My heart was beating faster than ever and we weren't even touching, apart from our entwined hands.

"Love me," she whispered, her voice barely audible.

"I already do," I confessed, looking her straight in the eyes so she would see just how much.

"So do I." Happy tears stung my eyes and god I wanted to envelop her in my arms and never let her go. She loved me. She fucking loved me. For all those years, Bella had loved me, too. If I had only known...

"Can we please get off here now?" I finally asked because seriously, I don't know how long I would be able to stay up here without really getting nauseous, and I guess that would be one of the things that could ruin our mood right now. Oh and I wanted to hold her... without risking a fall over the edge.

She nodded throughout her tears, and I felt her hand tighten even more around mine.

I carefully stepped down on the roof again, never letting go of her hand as she got down as well.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she whispered before crashing into my arms.

"It's okay, sweetheart, it's okay." I closed my arms around her, relief washing through my body. Not only because I had just saved her from killing herself but because I was finally able to hold her. For fourteen years I had only been able to dream about this moment and for a second I was pretty sure I was dreaming again.

"It had to be you to come up here. Of all people, it had to be you," she sobbed against my chest, making me realize she really was here, in my arms, seeking my comfort. I rubbed her back soothingly, and promised myself I'd never let her go. Ever.

"I guess faith has finally made an appearance," I murmured before kissing her hair and taking in her sweet scent.

"It was about time."

I couldn't help myself from laughing at her comment.

I don't know how long we stood there, just holding each other. For the second time one of the police officers cleared his throat. I wanted to shout at them and order them to leave but I really wanted to go downstairs more, to get away from this hellhole.

"Come on, let's get out of here," I said, leading Bella towards the exit but still holding her close. Every inch of space between us, now seemed too much. We totally ignored the police officers at the entrance, because there was no way they would be getting an opportunity to disturb our newfound happiness. We would deal with their questions and whatever shit they would throw at us, later.

"I think you're the only one who could have kept me from jumping," she mumbled, and in that moment, I thanked whomever was responsible for bringing me to this place at this exact moment.

**_ ~ THE END ~_**

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><p><em>Thank you everyone for reading.<em>

_Reviews are love._

_x Ellen_


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